LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) – International pressure to curb
corporate tax avoidance is behind delays to a $35 billion merger
of French advertising group Publicis and U.S. rival Omnicom, and
could even scupper the deal, tax advisers and sources close to
the deal said.

Last July, Paris-based Publicis and New
York-headquartered Omnicom announced plans to create the
world’s biggest advertising group. The new company would be
registered in the Netherlands and tax resident in the UK.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Starbucks suffered its
first ever drop in UK sales last year, a period when the company
became the subject of boycotts and public criticism over its tax
practices.

Accounts for Starbucks’ main UK subsidiary, Starbucks Coffee
Company (UK) Ltd, showed turnover fell in the year to the end of
September 2013 to 399 million pounds from 413 million pounds in
the previous year.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – Most chief executives globally
would support the publication of country-by-country financial
information to help stamp out corporate tax avoidance, a survey
showed on Wednesday.

Campaigners have advocated requiring multinational companies
to disclose country-by-country information as part of reforms of
international tax rules, but the measure is opposed by many big
business groups and governments.

LONDON (Reuters) – The amount of money Amazon.com Inc reports through a tax-exempt vehicle in Europe has dropped sharply in the past two years, even as European sales jumped, after the U.S. tax authority tightened rules it felt were being abused to shift profits.

Amazon (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) minimizes its tax bill by having the U.S. unit which owns its technology licenses lease the rights to re-license the technology to a tax-exempt partnership based in Luxembourg.

LONDON (Reuters) – As European policymakers consider action to stop a strong euro holding back jobs growth, companies across the continent say the currency’s strength is already eating into their profits.

LONDON (Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will move its European headquarters to London from the Netherlands this year and pay more tax in the UK as a result, the company said on Wednesday.

The shift by the world’s largest coffee chain comes after its low tax contributions in Britain provoked widespread criticism, including Prime Minister David Cameron telling a meeting in Davos that companies that avoided paying tax needed to “wake up and smell the coffee”.

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – When BG Group Plc
announced last week it was shifting the headquarters of its oil
and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading operation to Singapore
from Britain, it said the aim was to get closer to its
customers.

Analysts and consultants agreed that the growing importance
of Japanese and Korean utilities in the LNG market meant the
move would have clear logistical and commercial benefits. But
they also said another motivation was likely at play: tax.

LONDON (Reuters) – Taxes on wages rose across industrialized countries last year, as governments sought to reduce budget deficits blown out by efforts to tackle years of economic weakness following the financial crash.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), whose members include the world’s richest nations, said the total burden of taxes on labor rose to 35.9 percent in 2013 from 35.7 percent in 2012.

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) – Hutchison Whampoa has
won a legal battle that will allow it to offset losses at its UK
mobile phone business against profits from other British
subsidiaries, setting a precedent that could allow other groups
to cut their tax bills.

A European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on Tuesday held
that British regulations covering “group relief” – the right to
share losses between affiliated companies for tax purposes -
were overly restrictive and broke European Union rules on the
freedom of companies to do business across the bloc.

About Tom

"Tom leads our coverage of the oil and gas industry in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is also author of 'Spills & Spin: The Inside Story of BP'.
A former oil broker who turned to journalism 12 years ago, he is regularly interviewed on CNBC and other TV and radio stations on energy matters. Tom has reported from over twenty countries including Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Tanzania, the U.S. and Russia. As Europe, Middle East and Africa Oil & Gas Correspondent, he has chartered the rise in oil prices to record levels, interviewed oil ministers and the CEOs of ..."